Multicolor printing plate



NOV. 5, 1940. WEISS MULTICOLOR PRINTING PLATE Original Filed Nov. 15, 1959 IN VENT OR.

Patented Nov. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Divided and this application June 26, 1940, Serial N0.'342',513

2 Claims. (CL 101-131) This is a divisional application from the origi-- nal filed on November 15, 1939 under Serial Number 304,506 for Method of multicolor printing and multicolor printing plate, now Patent 2,214,687

of September 10, 1940.

My invention relates to a single plate from which multicolor prints may be obtained.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide a multicolor printing plate made from the m printing colors themselves.

My multicolor printing plate includes such other objects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear and which are inherently possessed by my invention.

While I have shown in the accompanying drawing and described in the specification a preferred embodiment of my article of manufacture, yet I wish it understood that the same is susceptible of modification and change withso out departing from the spirit of my invention.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the segments of different colored inks forming a desired design; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the addition of the border and plastic filler; Fig. 3 is another view-showing the color plate with the original under portion exposed and the side edge being added, and Fig. 4 is a cross section of the preferred form of my color plate.

0 The embodiment selected to illustrate my invention comprises a plurality of segments C of ink or printing material of desired color, shade, size or shape. In the preferred form the segments C are built up to a uniform thickness on a fiat sized support. The segments S have been placed in a pan containing a lubricant, and thus lubricated to prevent sticking. The ink or coloring will not stick to the lubricated walls of the adjacent segments S. During the formation of the color plate a border or frame B of wood or any suitable material is built around the segments C. This border B is higher than the built up surface of the segments-C, leaving a space which is filled with a filling A of molten wax, plaster of Paris or any other suitable filler. Before this filling is cooled, a support X of board, glass, metal, cardboard or screen is.placed against the filling A so that the same bind together. The support X forms the back of my multicolor printing plate R and when the sizing is dissolved away from the other surfaceof the segments C, said surface becomes the front or printing surface of the plate R. A permanent surrounding edge E of plastic material is placed 6 on the overlapping edges of support X and changing as long as incorporated in the plates,

against the sides of the edge segments C. The front surface of the color plate R presents a perfectly even and smooth printing surface. The surface is a reverse looking surface in order to obtain a right print.

A print may be obtained from color plate R by applying thereto with sufiicient pressure, a solvent treated surface. Every color of the mosaic color plate R is given ofi on the solvent treated surface with one impression. A color 10 print which carries all the. colors of the plate is thus obtained with a single printing.

The above color plate is adapted for the reproduction of such large or hold subjects as bill-- board posters, signs, window displays, wall 15 paper; banners, or the like, wherein there are fiat colors and no blendings or washes, and wherein color is predominant.

Instead of applying a filler and back to the built-up surface of my color segments C, I may go obtain uniform thickness of the color plate R by shaving down its exposed face with a heated blade, and print from the thus obtained fiat, even face of said color plate.

In my color plate the inks or colors used have 25 the following properties:

1. Extreme firmness or hardness, so that when printing is done from them the plates stand up under the pressure of the roller and hold the exact shape of each individual color area in the 30 printing plate.

2. Extreme concentration of color so that as many impressions as possible can be taken from a plate of a given thickness.

3. Suflicient solubility, so that when a paper '35 is moistened with a proper solvent and pressed against the plate, momentarily enough colored ink from the plate is dissolved and taken up by the paper to give a strong print.

4. Proper chemical formulation with suflicient l0 thermoplastics such as resins and waxes to give all the necessary firmness inthe cold, and low enough melting point so that when heated in the waterbath the colors or inks soften around to degrees Fahrenheit or melt at about 150 45 -to degrees Fahrenheit. These approximate softening and melting ranges are necessary to facilitate the making of the color plates- 5. The inks must be non-drying and not so that plates can be stored away under proper precautions, and reprints bemade even after a year or more. The inks must be quick drying when dissolved and transferred in printing onto 55 the paper, which can be accomplished by the use of proper solvents, i. e., low boilers.

6. Absolute uniformity in body and strength of all different colors or inks, so that the same amount of color is lifted off from the color areas during printing.

With inks, incorporating these properties, it is comparatively easy to make a multicolor printing plate for as many colors as wanted, but the plates may be somewhat restricted in the reproduction of detail, which means the finer the detail in the plates the more diificult it becomes to make the plates.

If the colors are not in fiat, distinct areas, but

. blended or washed out, I use them only as an do not flow out and form raised lines.

ent basic groups: (a)- varnishes or oils-resin auxiliary medium to define certain areas in the drawing. Each area might have a number of different colors or tints and shades. To do this fairly quickly and dependably I soften the ink to a consistency of artist oil color, and squeeze the colors out through the fine nozzles of the tubes to form fine lines, dots or patterns in the color plate. Since the inks are rapidly setting, they This layer of various colored fine lines and dots is, of course, by far not so thick as a poured layer of one color which I can pour when forming the plate in one operation in any thickness wanted, but has to be built up to the required thickness by repeating the operations with the tubes with the same colors as previously and as much as possible following the same drawing or patterns.

This procedure requires of course much more work, but allows reproductions of paintings, water colors, or the like.

Prints of subjects with detail may be reproduced in small runs or quantities of 500 to 750 from one plate so made, since a plate built up from fine lines and dots must necessarily have a limited thickness, while poured plates with larger individual color areas allow much greater thickness, up to one inch or more, which plates give of course correspondingly more prints. My numerous trials with improved inks of good firmness and extreme concentration give me at least 1,000 impressions from a one-quarter inch thick color plate. Thinner or thicker plates correspondingly less or more.

The lines or shading of my color plate may be formed by pouring first the predominating color and then by lifting out with a graver space for these lines or small details from the color plate and squeezing different colors into these grooves.

plastic materials, like natural resins, synthetic.

resins and waxes, into the mixture.

I have produced colors or inks of three difiermixtures, soluble in hydrocarbons, or solvents of coal tar or similar derivatives; (b) lacquersresin mixtures, soluble in their thinners; (c)

'gumswater soluble resin mixtures, soluble in water.

A wide variety of inks can be produced this way and they can be adjusted to print all kinds of colors or dyes, (pigments, toners, lakes and dyes), on all kind of materials. My water soluble thermoplastic water color ink is perfectly suited for multicolor textile printing of any kind of dye on any kind of fabric. The fixing agent for the dye (to bind dye to the fiber), is added to the water with which the fabric is moistened for printing. As a rule it is safe to use a saponified water as a lubricant for the varnish and lacquer inks and a wax solution for the water color or dye inks. Generally speaking, the lubricant should be non-drying and not mix with the colors. Proper lubricating prevents bleeding of colors into neighboring areas too.

The inks are in the cold so heavy, contain so 'little solvents, that they hold their colors perfectly in suspension. They allow and preserve perfect lines between the different color areas and do not mix, run together or blur the lines unless they are heated on the color plate to promote fiow, to soften lines and make tints and shades flow together.

It is evident that my color plate offers tremendous advantages when combined with other printing methods. Any number of colors can be printed by these color plates and detail andcopy by any other method, for example for maps, color charts, fashions, interiors, etc., wherever color is important.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A multicolor printing plate comprising a plurality of associated segments of colored printing ink of desired colors and areas forming a desired composite design, said segments built up from a fiat surface and having a fiat under surface, said segments built up to a desired thickness and having a top surface, a plastic filler attached to the top surface of said segments, a support adhering to the back of said plastic, said support having overlapping portions extending beyond the side edges of the marginal segments, and a plastic edge adhering to the overlapping portions of the support and surrounding the side edges of the marginal segments, said color plate adapted to rest on said support and expose the fiat under surface, said flat under surface adapted to give a multicolor print with a single impression to a surface applied thereto.

2. A multicolor printing plate comprising a plurality of segments having abutting surfaces and of desired colors and areas forming a desired composite design, said segments containing a combination of concentrated colored printing ink and thermoplastic resinous material, and having a non-drying lubricant coating on said abutting surfaces, said lubricant coating adapted to prevent said abutting surfaces of said segments from sticking and flowing together, said segments adapted to provide a multicolor print with a single impression to a solvent treated surface.

FRANZ WEISS. 

